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Obama’s Shift-to-Asia Budget Is a Hollow Shell Game

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If you take the Administration’s word for it, the most recent defense budget represents a sober-minded and far-thinking strategic shift from the Middle East to Asia, creating a smaller, high-tech force oriented increasingly towards inter-state conflict and deterrence. Many are even comparing the Pentagon’s current vision with that of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who sought to transform the five-sided building away from Kosovo-style interventions and create an agile and sophisticated military oriented toward the Pacific. Keep reading →

Published March 15, 2012 at 6:30 AM

Highlights of the Paris Air Show, Part 1

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The first day of the Paris Air Show is when the shakedown occurs. Everyone figures out what’s where. Much of the biggest news is broken. And everyone — no matter how many years they’ve been to the show — looks up startled when the raw boom and roar of the high-performance military jets zoom overhead for the first time after lunch. Talk ceases — because it’s impossible — and most people smile.

Breaking Defense’s videographer, Hunter Stuart, had never been to the Paris Air Show and was wonderfully open to all its weirdness. At the beginning of the show, Hunter caught the atmosphere of a huge bazaar that infuses everything. Enjoy his fresh view of the air show, from the haggling and the huddling to the wonder of the soaring planes so close overhead. Keep reading →

Published June 21, 2011 at 3:31 PM